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Ingle - Answered a Question by Clayton (16 Sep 07 17:21)

P&O have dedicated non stop charter flights from most UK airports. On arrival in Barbados, there is a fleet of minibuses waiting near the aircraft steps and you just get on. You bypass the immigration/arrivals hall and go straight to the ship, which takes around 45mins. There is a brief check on process on arrival at the dockside where you get your cruise card etc, and then you board the ship. Your luggage follows separately and is delivered to your cabin. Worked well for us.
Anytime is a good time to go to the Caribbean but January is particularly good as you miss the cold weather in the UK. The hurricane season is Aug-Oct so you miss that. Daytime temperatures will be around 30C
Bria.

This is not really feasible - ships mostly sail at 5pm - your transatlantic flight will land around 3pm - by the time you have cleared customs and got a cab to the port, the ship will have sailed without you. That is why cruise lines fly you in the day before.

Our "Crowthorne correspondant" has it in a nutshell, just think of the problems if your plane is delayed. Secondly January is probably the best month to go to the Caribbean as you will find out when you start cruising.
Just thought ...staying the night is a good way to get over your jet-lag ....just remember this when you wake up at 3am and can't get back to sleep, now you wouldn't want that on the ship would you? Regards Neil Dow.

Yes January is a good time to go to the Caribbean. P & O and Ocean Village fly you out the same day and board you immediately. For example, leave Gatwick at 09.30 a.m. for Barbados, arrive local time 3.30 p.m. board immediately and sail approximately 6 p.m. Hope that helps.

You can do this with MSC. They have 2 different Caribbean itenaries in january both departing Fort Lauderdale, sailing time for both is 7pm. They usually use BA to get you to Miami which lands at 14.25. The last time i went In january with them, my flight was several hours late but as they'd organised the flight they held the sailing time up for us to board, it is a bit tight and if anything happens to your luggage, it doesn't leave a lot of time to get it sorted out. You are ok for the retunr flight as they are mostly late afternoon or evening from Miami, so you definitley would not need an overnight stay on the way back. MSC is an italian company with Italian cuisine. Announcements are in 5 languages including English. This is not to everyone's taste. However when it is operating out of Miami, the majority of the pssengers will be English speaking as they will nearly all be American. january is a lovely time to visit the Caribbean. Hope this helps
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